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Paperwork: What happens when you keep 8 old men trapped in time in 1959 for only one week? · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: Paperwork. What happens when you keep eight old men trapped
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  in time in nineteen fifty nine for only one week.
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  Written by Lonnie Kine. This article is being read by
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  an automated voice brought to you by Everlett. Aging is
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  a state of mind. Yeah right, tell that to my
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  knees and my back and my hips. This is the
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  chit chat I have with myself when my mind or
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  a memory starts arguing with my body. Every labor day weekend.
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  For example, I find myself staring sadly at a busy
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  volleyball court, but the part of my brain connected to
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  my body just laughs. Don't even think about it, I hear,
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  and so I watch. But now listen up. Suppose I
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  told you that aging really is a state of mind,
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  and it might be healthy to live in the past,
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  because yes, there are studies that show this. There's one
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  in particular that fascinates me. In nineteen seventy nine, Harvard's
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  psychologist Ellen Langer took a group of eight men to
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  a retreat at an isolated monastery. They were in their
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  seventies and eighties and stayed for one week a walk
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  back in time. Their environment was designed around the year
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  nineteen fifty nine. They were asked to dress and behave
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  as they did that year. Current events discussed were from
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  nineteen fifty nine. Music and movies also were talking ed
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  Sullivan on a black and white TV. There were no mirrors,
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  but the men had photos of themselves in their younger days.
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  It was all about stepping back in time and building
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  a nineteen fifty nine state of mind. A week like
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  that sounds like fun, rejuvenating, I think, but this was
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  a study that found some interesting findings. The eight elderly
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  men involved in Langer's experiment became young again, writs journalist
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  Eddie Carroll forthreecairside dot com dot and by the end
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  of the week, their physical health reflected that psychological reversal
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  of time. They showed substantial improvements in flexibility, dexterity, memory, hearing, posture,
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  cognitive ability, and general well being. They even looked younger
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  to outside observers who were shown photos of them before
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  and after the experiment. Langer detailed her findings in her
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  book Token's Name, Mindful Health and the Power of Possibility.
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  She is recognized for her research on aging and was
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  the first woman ever to be tenured in psychology at
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  Harvard University in nineteen eighty one. In twenty twelve, she
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  spoke about her book to an annual gathering of scientists, educators, psychologists,
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  and artists who explore happiness and fulfillment. Carol shared these
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  quotes from Languer's speech. The study of possibility is the
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  study of what might be, rather than a mere description
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  of what is. Possibility opens up when we recognize the
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  difference between uncontrollable and indeterminate. Trying is the key. When
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  we're mindless, we're not there to notice we're not there.
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  Health is more than the absence of illness. Our mindsets
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  may be the cause of unnecessary limits. That's a powerful message.
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  It adds weight to what our elders kept saying, you
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  can do whatever you set your mind to do. Langer
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  has done other studies that support this, which Carol noted
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  in his article. A chambermaid's study saw a group of
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  hotel maids drastically change their health. They began viewing their
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  jobs as exercise, which led to weight loss, blood pressure improvements,
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  and increased well being. In another study, participants read a
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  list of negative words linked to aging. Within fifteen minutes,
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  they were walking more slowly. Than they had before. Then,
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  Carol notes, the argument here isn't that having a certain
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  mindset will prevent aging. Rather, it's that we don't need
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  to accept, believe, and surrender to the concepts that we've
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  been conditioned to hold as absolute truths. The message seems
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  pretty clear our state of mind affects our physical body.
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  So will I be on the volleyball court this year?
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  Probably not, But I have a few months to get
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  my head back into the game. Maybe I can redo
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  Langer's experiment. And there's no better way to travel back
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  in time than music. I need to find that cassette
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  I made years ago. I used to pop it into
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  the boombox and crank it right before I sprinted onto
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  the grassy court and shouted, let's go volley for serve.
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  Lonnie Kane, retired managing editor of The Times in Ottawa,
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  also was a reporter for the Herald News and Joliet
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  in the nineteen seventies. His paperwork email is Lonniejacaine at
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  gmail dot com, ormail the News Tribune for twenty six
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  second Street, LaSalle, Il six one three zero one